Rather than implement a vacant building registry, city staff have advised city council to boost existing rules by increasing fines for non compliance and strengthening language.
Greater Sudbury city council is slated to vote during their Sept. 17 meeting on which direction city staff should pursue, be it the recommendation, a vacant building registry or the status-quo.
There’s a “limited number of vacant or vacant and derelict buildings,” according to a report by city Permits and Approvals manager Denise Clement which city council will consider.
Year to date, city bylaw has monitored 29 vacant, derelict buildings, including 22 residential and seven industrial/commercial/institutional structures.
As such, a vacant building registry “is not recommended at this time given the additional cost to support onboarding technology and resources required to address the costs of level of administration and enforcement required.”
As Sudbury.com reported last year, vacant building registries are used to monitor vacant buildings to ensure they’re safely closed off and that all safety requirements are met.
The fees to register “act as an impetus for owners to fill vacant buildings, improve housing and commercial building supply,” the City of St. Catharines noted in a media release announcing their registry in 2022.
Although Clement’s report notes that fees of this nature “lend themselves to a slightly more rapid resolution of appeals,” they’re costly for municipalities to oversee, which is estimated to cost as much as $250,000.
Where methods such as this have proven effective in southern Ontario, where there’s a shortage of court resources leading to matters being dismissed for delay, there’s no such issue in Greater Sudbury, Clement’s report notes.
“There is capacity to process and prosecute necessary charges under property standards and other property-related bylaws,” she wrote.
Clement recommends a non-compliance fee of $500 to replace the city’s current $230 fee, which she notes is in closer alignment with other municipalities.
The city is also recommended to add language around Ontario Building Code Act fines, which range from $25,000 to $50,000 for individuals and $50,000 to $100,000 for corporations convicted of an offence, which Clement noted is also consistent with other municipalities.
Set fines within the property standards bylaw should also be address specific offences or violations, according to Clement’s report.
Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann requested the report Clement filed for the Sept. 17 meeting almost two years ago, in October 2022, in an effort to add more teeth to bylaw enforcement to prevent properties from becoming derelict.
Vacant, derelict buildings have remained an ongoing topic of discussion in council chambers, with the topic arising amid conversations regarding the city’s purchase of derelict properties downtown and the long-vacant hospital building on Paris Street.
Although Panoramic Properties said earlier this year that they’d break ground on a housing development at the old hospital site within five years, they’ve had plans in the past which were later cancelled and have owned the old hospital property since 2010, since which time it has remained vacant.
The Sept. 17 city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
